Total Articles: 15
Pharmaceutical Sales Representative Case Goes to Supreme Court
In a previous post in August, I questioned whether the pharmaceutical companies were losing the exemption battle as it related to pharmaceutical sales representatives and the outside sales exemption.
The FLSA's "Remedial Training" Overtime Exception
Many employers find nowadays that at least some workers are unable to read, write, or do simple arithmetic beyond the lowest levels (if at all). Management wants to give the employees mandatory training in these areas, but not if that means incurring overtime costs when the instructional time causes the employees' hours worked to exceed 40 in a workweek. But, under the right circumstances, there is a little-known way to increase employees' basic academic abilities without having to pay FLSA overtime premium for the time they spend learning.
Bill Aims at Worker Misclassification
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) has reintroduced legislation that would create new record-keeping requirements for employers that hire independent contractors, and impose stricter penalties for misclassification.
Efforts To Curtail The FLSA's "Companionship" Exemption Possibly Moving To The Regulatory Arena.
In late June, we noted legislation introduced in the Senate and in the House of Representatives that would essentially repeal the federal Fair Labor Standards Act's Section 13(a)(15) "companionship" exemption in any practical sense. U.S. Labor Department regulations and interpretations elaborate upon how and to whom the exemption may be applied.
Quick Quiz: Paid-Time-Off And The "Salary Basis"
Alice performs work meeting the duties requirements for the federal Fair Labor Standards Act's administrative exemption. She usually works 50 hours in five days each workweek. She is paid a weekly salary of $950. Alice is eligible for five paid days off each year, and she has three days left.
Recovering Losses From EXEMPT Employees
Our recent Quick Quiz Answer on recovering losses from non-exempt employees has caused some to ask whether the same analysis applies to employees who are treated as exempt under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act's executive, administrative, or professional exemption (including the "computer employee" and "highly compensated employee" versions).
You Are Hereby Classified: WHD Proposes New Notice Rule
Exempt or nonexempt? That can be a tough question. With wage-and-hour litigation on the rise, wise employers are aware that the classification question is an important one, as well. The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD), has announced a proposed rule that, if adopted, would have significant impact on the process employed by companies in determining whether or not an employee should be classified as exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Quick Quiz Answer: FLSA "Salary Basis" Of Pay
The answer to our January 31 Quick Quiz is "No": Furniture World's policy does not destroy the "salary basis" required for Robin's exempt status under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. This will be true even if management disciplines or discharges Robin for refusing to make-up the time she missed.
Quick Quiz: FLSA "Salary Basis" of Pay
Robin is in charge of the 50-employee Shipping Department at Furniture World. She is treated as an exempt "executive" employee under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, including that she is paid a salary of $950 per week. Furniture World adopts a policy that all supervisory employees:
Court Clarifies Overtime Damages For Misclassified Employees
Courts and litigants have struggled over how to figure overtime due to employees who were misclassified as exempt and who were paid a fixed salary for their hours worked. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that non-exempt employees be paid 1.5 times their regular hourly rates for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. But for a misclassified salaried employee, satisfying this requirement necessitates a couple of threshold determinations.
DOL Finds Mortgage Loan Officers are not Exempt Administrative Employees.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued an Administrator Interpretation stating that employees who perform the usual duties of mortgage loan officers are not exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act's (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime requirements. The DOL determined that these employees do not meet the requirements of the administrative employee exemption because their primary duty is selling mortgage loan products, which does not relate to the internal management or general business operations of the employer. According to the DOL, mortgage loan officers' duties involve the day-to-day carrying out of a financial service company's marketplace offerings and, "thus, fall squarely on the production [rather than administrative] side of the business."
U.S. DOL to Ramp Up Enforcement Against Misclassified Workers.
President Obama’s administration will seek more funding for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), including more funds to enforce wage and hour laws and pursue employers who misclassify employees as independent contractors. In a press release yesterday, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis outlined the president's fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget request for the DOL, which is built around the vision of "good jobs for everyone."
Retail Industry: How Did They Manage? Part One.
The jury said Family Dollar store managers did not "manage" the stores. A federal appeals court affirmed the $35.5 million overtime verdict. Take steps now to minimize the risk of this happening to your business.
Misclassifying Employees Proves to Be an Expensive Mistake.
A Massachusetts temporary-services company specializing in technical and manufacturing staff has learned a $1.8M lesson about the perils of erroneously classifying employees as exempt under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
Exempt or Non-Exempt? The Answer Isn't Always Easy.
Since 2001, the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division has recovered over $1.25 billion in back wages. That's not a typo. Last year alone, the Department recovered $220,613,703 in back wages, a record, which represented a nearly 70% increase in back wage recovery since 2001.
